Jeff Nelson's mother was a sought-after pianist who had a regular gig in San Francisco playing at the Top of the Mark. As a kid, Jeff took lessons from a woman who had the best name for a...

Keith LeBlanc was one of the first drummers who used his funk music background to create beats that helped popularize hip-hop music. Keith was there in the beginning and while working for...

Jamal Batiste grew up in a very musical family and when he saw his brother’s drum kit at 3 years old, he fell in love. Raised in New Orleans he was surrounded by what he calls the gumbo o...

Dennis Chambers has always had music in his life and started playing professional gigs before he was ten years old! He joined the group Parliament-Funkadelic in 1978 and is considered to ...

Gail Muldrow is a vocalist and guitarist who grew up completely surrounded by music. Living in the Oakland area, she would often take trips into San Francisco to experience the vibrant mu...

Joe Chambers was inspired by his older brother George to play guitar and write songs. The brothers, Joe, George, Willie and Lester, formed The Chambers Brothers and began singing gospel m...

Willie Chambers and his brothers fell in love with gospel music while growing up singing in church. Even though they received some strong criticism, they expanded the places where church ...

Charles Wright had a desire to form a solid soul band that would take the drive of R&B and push it to the limits. With an amazing cast of musicians, Charles formed the Watts 103rd Str...

Roger Smith began playing the piano and singing in church at an early age, quickly falling in love with the way people reacted to the music he performed. He was introduced to the Hammond ...

Leo Nocentelli is an original member of the award-winning band The Meters. The group recorded a string of instrumental hits beginning in the 1960s, many written by Leo. Playing lead guita...

Bobby Rush won his first GRAMMY at the age of 83 in 2017, some sixty years after his first professional gig as a bluesman. Beginning in the 1950s, Bobby performed live and recorded in Chi...

Archie Bell, a native of Houston, Texas, grew up listening to his mother sing in the Baptist church. Out of her seven sons she singled out Archie and suggested that he should try to be a ...

Karl Denson has played the saxophone alongside Lenny Kravitz, The Rolling Stones, Jack DeJohnette, Switchfoot, and the Blind Boys of Alabama (among others). He was the co-founder of the a...

Eric Burdon participated in the British Invasion of the 1960s as an original member of The Animals. It was an exciting time in music that brought popularity to rock bands from England to ...

Pat Rizzo heard Sly Stone was looking for a sax player to join the band.  He went backstage at a concert with his horn and Sly told him to go into the bathroom. Sly asked if he was good a...

Steve Madaio played trumpet on most of Stevie Wonders recordings during the innovative and creative period between 1971 and 1976.  Stevie was experimenting with electric keyboards and syn...

Joan Gand followed her drummer brother to a gig while still in high school.  There, he introduced her to a guitarist from another school who eventually became her future husband, Gary Gan...

Stevie Wonder has earned the title of the "Mayor of the NAMM Show" for his countless visits to the show floor over the years.  He has become an important part of the music products indust...

Nathan East began playing the bass following his introduction to soul music, which his uncle and father often played on the radio and from records.  Over his storied career, Nathan has be...

Michael Hampton is also known as Kidd Funkadelic thanks to his long association with the funk band Parliament-Funkadelic.  He joined the band at the tender age of 17, having impressed the...

James Gadson is among the most recorded drummers in history!  His career began as a member of the Charles Wright band in the late 1960s and soon expanded to studio work.  James can be hea...

Larry Dodson Sr. was asked to become the first singer in the Bar-Kays back in 1970.  The band started out as an instrumental group in the 1960s and gained world-wide fame as Otis Redding ...

Ernie Vincent played a key role in expanding the role New Orleans played in music on a national and international level. As a songwriter he wrote the funk based songs "Dap Walk" as well a...

George Porter Jr. has proven himself to be one of the bedrocks that make up the foundation of the New Orleans music scene. While starting out briefly on guitar, George quickly transitione...

Walter “Wolfman” Washington was a staple on the New Orleans music scene since first picking up a guitar in the 1950s. After some minor corrections on technique and tuning, Wolfman hit the...

Allen Toussaint represented one of the quintessential New Orleans sounds. Toussaint’s compositions and songs seamlessly blend blues, jazz, ragtime, R&B, and funk to create an amalgam ...

Lester Abrams is the songwriter who teamed up with Michael McDonald to pen the Doobie Brothers hit "Minute by Minute."  As a teenager and playing drums, Lester's first band was the El Dor...

Freddie Washington is proud of the connections he has made in the music world as a bass player and that his passion for music has led to so many opportunities to make music with other pas...

Larry Graham fondly recalls stepping out onto stage to perform at Woodstock!  He remembers the sea of people and the energy in the air as he performed as a member of Sly & the Family ...

Larry "Moogstar" Clemon gained his nickname playing synthesizers for several funk and R&B bands such as the Zapp Band and Cameo.  While working with Roger Troutman with the Zapp Band,...

Henry Stone wanted to record musical artists that were not able to sign deals with the large record labels of the late 1940s.  As a result, Henry found a string of artists and provided th...

Ernie Isley was born into a very musical family and grew up with his older brothers forming a group and singing gospel.  When Ernie was 14 years old he played drums as a member of the fam...